Queen’s Belfast Dentistry Interview Questions & Tips

General Interview Information

The Queen’s Belfast Dentistry selection process involves two stages. The first examines cognitive ability, through consideration of previous academic performance. For UK and EU applicants only, the UCAT will be considered in addition. The second stage involves an MMI (Multiple Mini Interview). This is designed to confirm the candidate’s aptitude, motivation and personal qualities.

The personal statement is not taken into account in the selection process at Queen’s, although candidates are expected to explicitly state that Dentistry is their career choice, show evidence of a commitment and motivation to follow a career in the profession, and state what they have done to find out more about a career in Dentistry. Candidates are not necessarily required to have undertaken work experience, although if work experience is not undertaken this must be reasonably explained. The MMI looks to test the following qualities: resilience, maturity, responsibility, interpersonal and communication skills, confidence, self awareness, empathy, ethical and moral values. You must show awareness of the demands of training as a dentist.

Dentistry Interview Question Bank

Dentistry Interview Tuition

Dentistry MMI Question Bank

Sample & Recent Interview Questions

Awareness of the Demands of Dentistry & Training

Why do you want to be a dentist?
What area of dentistry might you want to specialise in?
Tell us about your understanding of the process of training, registering, and further training throughout being a student dentist and dentist.
What do you like about the course here at Queen’s?
What do you think are the toughest aspects of being a dentist?
What do you think are the most rewarding parts of a career in Dentistry?
How have you explored the career of dentistry?
What have you read that has informed you on what a career in dentistry is like?
What was the most surprising thing about your work experience?
Did your work experience give you an insight into how tough the profession can be?

Resilience & Responsibility

Tell us about a time when you had to show resilience or come through a difficult experience.
Tell us about a time when you helped someone through a difficult time.
What responsibilities have you had so far in life? Which has been the most important for you as a learning experience?
Have you had mentoring or leadership roles at school?
Why do you think resilience is so important to being a dentist?
What organisation do you think regulates dentists and their professional responsibilities?
Why is it important for student dentists to be responsible?

Communication Skills

Tell us about a time when you had to communicate in a difficult situation.
Have you ever led a team to success?
Do you work better in a team or independently?
What do you believe are the most important qualities of being a good team player?
Do you learn well in groups?
What examples of excellent communication have you seen during your work experience?
What examples of poor communication, or communication that could have been improved, have you seen during your work experience?
Tell us about a team or group that you have organised and led.
What have you learnt about teamworking from your experiences of playing sports?

Empathy and Ethics

What do you understand the term empathy to mean?
What do you believe that the difference between empathy and sympathy is?
Tell us about a time when you showed empathy, and how that empathy helped the other person.
Why is empathy so important to healthcare professionals?
Imagine that you are a first year dental student at Queen’s. One of your fellow students has been struggling with their coursework in general, and comes to you to talk about their semester essay. They explain that, as you have already done your essay, and normally score high marks, they would like to pay you to write their essay for them. They explain that they are willing to pay ‘whatever you think is fair’ to write them a good essay. How would you approach this situation, and what are the key issues?
Imagine that you are a newly-qualified dentist working at your first practice, which is busy and successful. The practice owner is a leading dentist who takes an active interest in research and has a high degree of influence within the profession. However, they frequently make inappropriate and sexual comments to patients, which they pass off as ‘just humour’ and ‘part of the job.’ Your colleagues admit they notice the poor behaviour, but feel they ‘shouldn’t rock the boat.’ How might you approach this situation?

Queen’s Belfast Dentistry Interview Questions & Tips

​Further Reading....

Further Reading....